Shrimps Trust: Takeover talk, transfer restrictions and a Memorial Garden set to open

To start with the obvious, news of the transfer restrictions imposed on the club by the EFL came as an unpleasant shock; particularly after would-be – thankfully, now fully-signed – striker Andy Dallas was spotted warming up with the team prior to the Crewe match.

As a Trust board, we met later in the day after news broke to discuss our approach to the situation and, following that, made efforts to contact all relevant parties.

This led to us being able to establish contact with Jason Whittingham, who agreed to speak to our chair Tarnia Elsworth over the phone and answer questions; the responses to which we shared online.

As part of the discussion, Jason said he would continue to remain in regular contact with the Trust to provide updates.

At the time of writing, the latest from Jason is that following the resolution of the transfer restrictions, the focus of the EFL has now switched back to reviewing the latest documents submitted by a potential buyer; confirmed as Panjab Warriors.

As ever, we will continue to keep fans and members informed of whatever we can regarding sale updates as we get them from Jason, the board – with whom we continue to hold monthly meetings – and the EFL.

While the sale saga continues to roll on, we are glad to share positive news of other projects that we are implementing as a Trust.

Our trustee Ben Cassar, who has been doing important work on the Football Governance Bill, spoke to a Westminster committee about the issues that the club has faced over recent years and how this can be avoided in future.

Participating in, and contributing to, the national conversation around football governance and an independent regulator is something we can do that can have a tangible effect.

We were delighted that Ben, who was the only fan representative present, was able to share his and the Trust’s input.

Another bit of good news we’re happy to share is the nearing completion of the Memorial Garden, which is due to open on February 15 prior to our fixture against Accrington Stanley.

Trustee Matt Newsham has put in a great deal of effort over the past few months to get the project over the line and it is fantastic to see it ready to go.

Our thanks go to contractor Karl Robinson for his hard work constructing the garden, for which plaques are now available to purchase online.

We also have a number of other positive projects in the works.

We are looking into a ‘Back the Lads’ campaign to help spur on the atmosphere at the Mazuma as we reach a pivotal point in the season; suggestions for which we are currently open to.

We are also aiming to bring back Junior Reds along with Morecambe FC Community Foundation, as well as set up an inclusion group to better understand the differing needs of fans.

Information about these projects will be shared over the coming weeks as and when they progress.

Finally, a word on away travel. Unfortunately, we have had to cancel a couple of trips recently due to a lack of uptake – and only just managed to get enough people on the Bradford City coach to avoid a heavy financial loss.

We will now be making decisions on coach travel to future away fixtures two weeks prior to games.

Whether the coach is able to run will be dependent on how many people we have signed up at this point.

We appreciate it’s not always easy to plan ahead like this but, if you are planning on going to an away game, then please do consider using Trust away travel. Bookings for all our remaining fixtures are currently available online.

As always, thanks for your support in the various projects and efforts that the Trust continues to undertake.

Let’s keep getting behind Derek and the team and give them some much-needed support – up the Shrimps!